The Attempt
by AeroRace
Summary: The still recovering country of Amestris has been noticing strange disappearances of it's soldiers, and the country of Xing as well. Are they missing, or kidnapped? And who is behind it? Post-Manga, slight romance/pairing. T for cussing/ possible gore.
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for taking a look at The Attempt. Reviews/critiques welcome!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

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><p><em>Half the time the world is ending,<em>

_Truth is I am done pretending._

_Love Remains the Same - Gavin Rossdale_

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><p>"Right, I'll be there soon, and don't tell... No, not even May." Edward chuckled, hanging up the phone on his brother, Alphonse. There was a loud whistle outside followed by clanks and clatters of the a train pulling away from the Resembol station.<p>

Ed walked outside, feeling the calm wind blow through his golden hair. His brown trench coat blew with it as he made his way down a long dirt path. It had been two years since he had walked this path. He had headed west while Al had gone opposite, east. After two years of traveling and learning, Ed decided it was time to return home, at least for a little while.

Up ahead he saw a house, the house he has called home since the death of Trisha Elric, his mother. Smoke spurted from the chimney, creating warmth in the home which he couldn't wait to enter.

Just a few feet from home, Edward heard the excited bark of Den as the black and white mutt bounded out of the house to greet him. Ed grinned and knelt down to pet the happy pup when another excited voice caught his ears.

"Brother!"

"Hey, Al!" Like Ed, Al had also just returned home after adventuring foreign countries. Alphonse had been with May in the country of Xing, across the dessert, studying another form of Alchemy, Alkahestry. Alkahestry was used from medical purposes, as opposed to Alchemy, which was used mostly for military reasons in Amestris.

"Hi Ed!" Edward turned to the young Xingese girl coming out of the house. Al hadn't changed much since Ed last saw him but May, on the other hand was very different, despite it being only two or so years since he'd seen her. She was now just a few inches shorter than Alphonse. Edward was lucky, since Al had returned to his original body, he had started growing much more, and was actually taller than his younger brother. After years of short jokes, he finally escaped them.

"Al, May, what's going on-," a young blond stopped in the frame of the house door, a shocked expression on her easily excitable face. She grinned and ran up to Ed. "Edward!" she yelled, embracing him in a long hug. "You should have called and told me you were coming home!" she pouted, still the same old Winry they always knew, and loved.

"And ruin the surprise?" Al said with a chuckle. Winry pouted more, pretending to be upset no one told her. Truth was, she was too excited to be angry.

"You going to let me in or what?" Ed said, a light smile on his calm, but happy, face. Winry smiled back and the four friends walked into the warm home together.

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><p>"If it isn't Ed. It's about time you came home, Winry's been dying to see you." Granny Pinako said contently as she placed her hands on her hips, glad to see her family home all together again. Winry just looked away blushing furiously, making Edward smile.<p>

"At least I grew, mini-hag." Edward's voice wasn't angry or mocking as it would have been when he was younger, it was more mature and casual now, "mini-hag" being a comment just to recall the old days in his younger years.

"You boys sure have grown." she replied, no longer a bitter insult said back due to her inability to comment on his current size, but she didn't take it as a bad thing, instead welcomed their growth. She was just happy they were still healthy, physically and mentally, after what the two had been through their whole life. Such a hard life for young boys, but their strength and care for others helped them along the way; that she knew for certain.

Ed turned to May and Al, standing close to each other. "You two dating yet?" he said simply, curiously.

"W-what?" Al stammered, not giving a straight answer. Both Al and May were blushing as much as Winry had, and they avoided awkward eye contact. Edward chuckled, feeling happy for the two. It was hard to believe Al was just a year younger than himself, seeing as though he would always be his little brother.

Edward remembered seeing Al's body, alone in the place of the gates of Truth. So weak, broken, empty. Now he could walk on his own, he could do anything he wanted.

"So how was the west? Where did you go?" Winry asked curiously as they all sat down around the dinner table as Granny Pinako prepared dinner.

"It was interesting – different." Ed started. "First I went to Aerugo, and decided to work my way up. There was honestly nothing much there, aside from a couple Alchemists who go their talents from Amestris, and I only stayed two or three months. Their culture wasn't entirely different than ours would be without alchemy. Creta was a little different, though. They had Alchemy, but used some symbols not used here in Amestris and leaned towards medical purposes, like Alkahestry. It was a peaceful country. They use transmutations like us, converting matter with the same materials, although they are much neater when using Alchemy. You almost never seen the transmutation marks. Of course, this also makes their transmutations a little slower than ours.

"As for Drachma, they are slowly gaining ways of using Alchemy for military purpose. We assume they figured out some parts of it by watching those of us at Briggs use a little Alchemy. They're a big country, sure, but Amestris was born with Alchemy, while Drachma wasn't. They can only learn so much from watching. Eventually they might catch up once they get the real gist of it." he paused a moment to think. "Although there was also Alchemy from Drachma that I had never seen before... it's hard to explain, and kind of like Mustang's alchemy, but I didn't get a chance to learn about it."

"Wow, brother, you sure went around." Al said, earning a brisk nod from May by his side in agreement.

"We only have Alkahestry in Xing. Al's getting pretty good at it!" May said excitedly, looking towards the younger brother with pride.

"That's great, Al!" Winry said, a big smile on her face. It was obvious she liked the thought of Alkahestry, especially since her parents were doctors when they were alive.

Ed ate his first Pinako-made-meal in two years with everyone, and they talked and talked, excited everyone was finally together at home. Time flew by and night was upon them, leaving everyone aside from Ed and Winry to sleep. Al slept on the couch, May in the guest room. Ed would be on the floor tonight in the living room, sadly.

"I'm really glad you're back." Winry said. "You been taking care of your automail?" she nagged half-playfully half-seriously.

"Yes, Winry. Oiled it every other night." he grunted, but still smiled. He knew had to take care of it for her, even though he had never really bothered in the first place. "Hey, I'm thinking about going down to Central to see everyone. Care to join?" he asked, hoping she would say yes. He wanted to leave soon, but he had just seen her for the first time in too long. He didn't want to leave her again.

"Central? Sounds like fun! Maybe I can drop by to say hi to Gracia and Elicia while we're there. I think I've gotten better at making apple pie." she said, to Edward's delight.

"Oh, by the way, did you go back to Rush Valley as an apprentice?" he asked, completely forgetting about her working for Garfiel. She had had so many customers before, yet she was home...

"Yeah, I went back for a few months, but Granny's getting old and I thought I'd take a break for a year. I'll go back soon, but Garfiel says I should just open up my own shop, even though he will miss having me around." Winry smiled happily. She always loved making and repairing automail, a hobby and a career. Edward has yet to understood her love for metal prosthetic limbs, but that was probably because he had to deal with having one, which used to be two. He wondered if she could handle running a shop of her own, or if she would hire others to work with her. It would be very interesting to see how it all played out.

The thought made him look to his right arm, stretching and moving his fingers. It had been years since he had gotten them back, but it was great to have the arm he was born with. He looked up to see Winry staring at him with a gentle smile. She too was happy he had his own arm back, despite her love for automail.

"We should go tomorrow." Winry said after a moment of silence, perking up at the thought of going back to central.

"Tomorrow? I just got here!" Ed exclaimed with surprise on his face.

"So? I didn't. It's actually pretty boring around here, especially since Al and May are the only other two around besides Granny." she sighed. "And Al seriously needs to ask her out or something." she groaned. Edward smiled at the thought of them in an official relationship. The two were practically made for each other, the way he saw it.

"I agree." he said with a chuckle of amusement. Another moment of silence, then, "Hey, Winry? Do I still get," he paused once more, deep in thought. He then continued with, "85%?"

Winry smiled, remembering the embarrassing but memorable moment of confession, and she couldn't help but let out a laugh. "We'll see." she mused. And with that, she left a slightly puzzled, but happy, Edward sitting by himself with only his thoughts as company.

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><p><strong>Hey, you got through it. Congrats. And thank you!<br>**


	2. Chapter 2

**Another chapter, yay! It will be switching off between Ed and Roy [although Roy's chapters may be taken by Riza at some points!].**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.  
><strong>

Roy Mustang looked up from his desk after hearing someone walk up to it. He saw Colonel Elizabeth "Riza" Hawkeye standing in front of it, a folder in her hand. "Another missing person report, sir." she said, placing the envelope on his desk. Roy opened it, revealing a picture of a man and the name _Colonel John Karn_ across the top. He looked just a couple years older then Mustang himself. "He was last seen at Joey's Drinks bar, just like the rest of them. Apparently he left with a black-cloaked man, and was not seen again." Hawkeye reported, knowing Roy wouldn't read the full report, as much as she wished he would.

"If they are all at the same damn bar, then why haven't we caught them yet?" Roy growled. This was the eighth missing person this month, and now the responsibilities are being pushed to Roy's team when other teams had been incompetent. "Hawkeye, go get Breda and Havoc." he ordered.

"Yes, sir."

She left to fulfill her duty and came back with two men trailing behind her. One was a tall blond with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. "Hey, Brigadier General Mustang! Wow, still getting used to that. Can I call you Brig Gen Must instead?" Lieutenant Jean Havoc asked.

"No, you may not." Roy said, giving Havoc a glare. "I have a mission for you two, since no one else seems to be taking the initiative with this case. You three are going on stakeout, starting tomorrow."

"Sure, boss." the other larger man, Lieutenant Heymans Breda, said with boredom in his tone.

"Uh, boss." Havoc started. "I have a problem. You see, there is this girl I just met and she said I didn't even have to pay for dinner, so can we start the day after?" he said. Havoc enjoyed going on dates, even though he usually wasn't successful in getting women, or keeping the ones he did get eventually "get."

Roy, looking more and more frustrated by the moment said, "No." and left it at that, noticing a very disappointed look from Havoc. "Oh, and you are all going in disguise, so you can't tell anyone what you are doing. Got it?" he was still looking at Havoc as he said this, specifically warning him he would be toast -literally- if he told.

The three subordinates nodded and returned to their appropriate desks to continue working. Roy rested his chin on the backs of his hand, deep in thought. All the reports said the missing men were in the bar before their disappearance, and left with a cloaked man -or women,- and weren't seen again. It sounded like these officers were going willingly to Roy. They all had one thing in common: no family. The relatives of the victim were either extremely distant or dead, and by all natural causes or explainable accidents. This left out the possibility of murder charges on the enemy.

"Sir?" he blinked out of his daze. "You look like you are concentrating quite hard. What are you thinking?" Riza said simply. She was his most devoted subordinate, and his strictest too. Usually she didn't show much care to what he was thinking about, but with such a strange case she may have been thinking the same thing. Roy explained his thoughts and was right, she had been thinking similarly. "Their captors couldn't have any real hostages to use against the victims, assuming a select few had any girlfriends or boyfriends." she said.

"Right, but is there something else kidnappers could lure a soldier in with?" Mustang said curiously, even though Hawkeye was probably as clueless as him.

Turns out, she wasn't. "An idea?" she asked openly. "Recently there have been a couple protests against the government, especially after the Promised Day when no one was really sure what happened, and trust dwindled. Of course, this led to some not trusting the government much, as expected."

"Right, but nothing to the extent of Liore or the Ishvalans." replied Roy. "Are you suggesting there is something bigger?"

"Yes, sir." she said. "With so many soldiers missing, they must be gaining in numbers. And we only know of soldiers missing, there could be civilians missing as well." the Colonel hinted.

"Look into other missing persons." Mustang ordered, responded by a nod from Riza, and his loyal partner left the room.

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><p>Hours later, Riza walked back into the office, an extremely stuffed folder in her hands which she placed on Roy's desk with a <em>thud!<em>

_ "_Apparently there are many more people missing then we thought," Roy said, his eyes widening as he flipped through the stack.

"Yes, sir. But there is two similarities between most of these and the missing soldiers." Riza said, taking a sheet of paper with a young woman on it. "First of all, a couple of them were last seen at either Joey's Drinks, or another bar, Eli's Pub. If they weren't last seen in either places, then they usually had no "last seen" because no one recalled when they had seen them, if ever."

"And the second thing?" Roy asked.

"Like our soldiers, all the families of the victims are gone." Hawkeye said. Roy also picked up a report, one with an older man on it, and noticed he was last seen at Joey's, and like Riza had said, his family was gone.

"Colonel Hawkeye? With so many missing people why hasn't the military taken more action?" Roy growled, putting his hand to his face in frustration.

"Well, General, they have no one to care they are gone." Riza responded, continuing to look over more reports, despite the fact she had already done that before showing them to Roy. Mustang looked to her, a thought forming in his head. No one to care they were gone?

"Thank you, Hawkeye." he said simply. "Tomorrow, you, Havoc, and Breda will be going on stake-out at Joey's. I can't have you tired, can I?" he smiled, then continued, "You're dismissed."

Instead of arguing and saying there was more work to be done, Riza saluted her Brigadier General and left with a "Yes, sir." As long as it was for the sake of a mission, she would do anything, and that included going home early.

Once she was gone, Roy searched through all the files. Typically he would detest doing something like this, but this time it was actually important. There were so many faces: faces no one bothered to search for. While Roy was almost certain the missing people left by complete free will, there was sadness at the thought of no one looking for them, or caring about their fate.

He looked at the occupations all the missing people, and they were also fairly similar. Typically jobs that had so many people it didn't matter if one or two were missing. These jobs were simple and required little physical movement. He also concluded that they couldn't have been extremely healthy either.

So many things were unclear about the whole case, and Roy was more angry at his own government than the cloaked kidnappers. While the country was still healing from the Promised Day, and trying to re-establish Ishval, Roy was certain he would have been more on top of it if he were Fuhrer, but because of loosing his eyesight during the events he was unable to take the position, and Grumman took over. Luckily, Roy like Grumman, even if he felt he should be looking into the disappearances more.

Time ticked by as Mustang looked through the files of missing persons. The reports were all so similar, as if they were all the same people. Something was wrong, but just how big it might be was yet to be determined.

**Hope you liked it! Please review/critique!  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter, please read and review!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of it's characters.**

"Look, you two, we're here!" Winry said, her face up to the train window as she smiled with excitement. Ed and Al exchanged sorrowful smiles themselves, their minds running through good and bad memories of their adventures.

"Ed, who did you call to pick us up?" Al asked curiously when he realized he had yet to ask.

"I tried to call Lieuten- I mean, Colonel Hawkeye, but she wasn't there. So I asked Armstrong." Ed said, laughing as Al's face fell.

"You asked Armstrong?" Al moaned dreadfully.

"Hey, he's the only one that would want to come out here to pick us up considering we don't have a car." Ed reasoned followed by an admitting nod from Al. "Besides, the Major is a good guy," he paused, putting a hand to his face, "even though he's extremely annoying." he was almost starting to regret his choice, but even then he would probably be the only person not busy st the time, and they would have been trapped.

The three stepped off the train and into a bustle of busy people in the station of Central. All three friend's looked around until Winry spotted what they were searching for. "Major!" she cried, waving for him to notice them.

"Winry? And the Elric brothers!" Armstrong cried as he put a hand to his forehead in a salute-like fashion to make sure it was really them as they ran towards him. When they were standing in front him, they were welcomed by a tight, muscled-filled, embrace.

"Can't... breath... Major..." Ed croaked from within the hug and Mustang placed them on the ground.

"Oh, you three have grown out of your youth and into adulthood! How I've missed the three of you!" Major Armstrong then bursted out sobbing happy tears. It was apparent he would never change.

"You too, Major!" Al said, a bright smile on his face. At first, the idea of Armstrong being the one to pick them up was a dreadful thought, considering his high emotions to everything and his general habit of being annoying, but now Alphonse accepted his happy attitude, lifting the nostalgic mood to a happier one.

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><p>Armstrong then drove the three to the Military hotel, where Ed and Al shared a room and Winry got the one next to it. She then went visit Gracia and Elicia while the brothers wanted to visit Mustang. They got to the door and Al knocked lightly.<p>

"Come in." said a gruff voice from inside.

"Hey, Brigadier General Jackass. Hm, that has a good ring to it – better than Colonel Shit." Ed said, although unlike the past times he had called Mustang vulgar names, he didn't mean them, and wasn't angry. Old habits just died hard, it seemed.

"If it's isn't Fullmetal and Al." Roy said, looking a little shocked to see the two boys.

"Not Fullmetal anymore, Mustang." Ed said informatively. Roy just grinned and nodded, but didn't say anything. Everyone knew Ed could no longer preform alchemy since he got his brother out of the suit of armor he had his soul in. This was knowledge difficult to comprehend, even to Mustang when he signed Ed's papers saying he was no longer in the military.

"Oh, Ed and Alphonse Elric. Nice to see you boys, it's been a while." Riza Hawkeye said as she walked into the office with two coffees in her hands. She handed one to Mustang, who accepted gratefully.

"Colonel Hawkeye, nice to see you too!" Al said happily. Riza may be strict but the brothers had seen her in her most emotional times, making her seem a little more human than a stoic body guard. Al remembered the time Colonel Hawkeye had thought Roy was dead, and he was just glad the two were still together considering they made a great team... and Riza was the only one who could control the Brigadier General.

"Colonel, I thought I sent you home." Roy said, a little puzzled.

"The Fuhrer asked me to give you these papers to sign before I leave." Riza said, holding out a couple of papers which Roy took.

"Great, more paperwork. By the way, how is your grandfather?" he said. He received a puzzled look for Ed and Al both for a moment. "You boys never knew? Fuhrer Grumman is Riza's grandfather." he said in a matter-of-fact tone. The brothers looked a little surprised for a moment, but the knowledge didn't really change much, aside from the fact it was impossible to see the two related with such different personalities.

"He's good." Hawkeye said, then she saluted, "I'll be leaving again, sir. Thank you." Roy nodded and Riza smiled at the brothers. "Maybe I will see you again soon." she said and left after the two nodded in agreement.

"She still staying by your side?" Ed asked when she was gone. There were so very few occasions he had seen either one of them without the other close by.

"My best subordinate." he said, not taking his eyes off the door.

"Hey, Brigadier General, where is everyone?" Al asked, noticing the room was devoid of all Roy's subordinates.

"No one's told you guys? There have been large amounts of disappearances lately, both soldiers and civilians." Roy Mustang groaned and laid his chin on the desk. "And more missing by the minute." he muttered.

Edward smiled at the General. "The big ranks getting to you, old man?" he said mockingly. Without letting Roy answer in protest, Ed asked, "Any way me and Al can help?"

Roy paused for a moment, "Maybe, but I can't think of anything right now. Everyone's going on stakeout tomorrow at a bar where most people were last seen before disappearing. I'd invite you two, but you're not over 21." Roy said and Ed gave him a disappointed look in response. While having a little break from all the adventures he had been on were nice, a part of Ed yearned to go back into action. "Unless," Roy started, lifting his head up from his desk. He had a look of slight hope on his face. "you two want stay at the two entrances. Apparently the person the missing people are always with usually wears a black cloak." Roy muttered something unintelligible about civilians not noticing weird things around them. Then he continued, "You two could try and catch them as they leave so there isn't to much commotion inside the actual bar. And you could tell my team when they enter, if you see them."

Al nodded excitedly at the idea. Ed guess he was happy since he never got to do anything "fun" in his own body, and now he could. Besides, Al could still use alchemy when Edward couldn't and it could be very useful.

"Good. I wont be accompanying you for this mission, so it will just be you two, Hawkeye, Havoc, and Breda. Meet them there at about five. It's Joey's Drinks." Roy informed the two.

"You know, I bet we could pass for 21, right Al?" Ed said slyly with a grin.

"No." Roy growled, putting a hand to his forehead. "Now go, I have work to do."

"Sure you do, Mustang." Ed turned and waved a hand at Mustang, making the Brigadier General chuckle a little. Al waved as well and the two walked out of the office.

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><p>"Whaaat? Why?" Winry pouted when the brothers denied her.<p>

"Winry, please." Al pleased, "We don't know what will happen. Besides, we're probably just going to sit there for a while anyways, and even then there's a chance nothing with happen."

"Come on! Ed... please?" Winry looked to Ed with pleading eyes which Ed had to admit made it hard to say no. Nevertheless, he couldn't let her be put in danger like that. He shook his head and Winry pouted once again. "Oh fine! You two are so stubborn sometimes!"

"Whatever. We still have the whole day tomorrow to hang out." Ed said, and then let out an exhausted yawn. "I'm going to bed." he announced.

"Me too. 'Night Winry." Al said as he got up from the hotel couch.

"Good night." Winry said, and she walked out of the room to go to her own bed. All three friends wondered what tomorrow would bring them - a new day, a new adventure.

**Thanks for reading! By the way, next chapter is in Riza's perspective, since Roy wont be there and I want it to be at the stakeout.  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

** Chapter 4, yay! Enjoy, please read and review! It makes me happy!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

Riza stepped out of the black car parked in front of Joeys Drinks. She noticed Ed and Al were already there, sitting next to the door looking extremely bored. "Hello, boys." Riza said as she walked up to the two.

"Colonel Hawkeye! You look so..." Ed's voice trailed off as he struggled to find a word fit her appearance. "out of your element." he finished. Even though it could be perceived as anything but a compliment, Riza took it as one smiled. She wasn't wearing anything different than what normal woman wore on a daily basis, but for someone like Riza Hawkeye it was strange. She wore a tight-fitting black dress that went up just above her knees. It had a v-neck and wrapped around her neck was a pearl necklace and her blond hair flowed down her back.

"You look like you're going on a date." Al said with a little chuckle.

"Thank you, Al. Well, I'm heading in. If you need anything, give me a shout." Riza said as she turned to the bar, smiling as she went. Inside she saw 1st Lieutenant Havoc already sitting at the counter. The bar wasn't the usual casual bar, it was actually a little fancy, like a restaurant where you can buy lobsters and drink expensive wines. She was glad she dressed up for the occasion.

Havoc gave a whistle when he saw her, "Too bad Roy wasn't here." he said, making Riza give an uncharacteristic blush. It came with an aggravated frown and scowl at the Lieutenant.

"Anything yet? Where is Breda?" she asked as she sat down with a sigh.

"He said he would be an hour la-," Havoc didn't get a chance to finish his sentence when Colonel Hawkeye had already started heading to the indoor payphone and dialed a number after slipping in a coin.

"Breda, where the hell are you?" she growled into the phone.

_"Uh, sorry Hawkeye!"_ Breda said nervously over the phone, a little worried he would later get a bullet through his head when he finally did arrive. Riza hung the phone up, hoping he would get the message she was trying to convey.

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><p>Time ticked by slowly as the three, Breda getting there as fast as possible after the phone call, waited for anything unusual to happen. It was already 7:00pm, and normal people had gone in and out of the bar, no sign of anything strange happening at the moment.<p>

That is, until there was screaming heard from outside the front entrance, followed by more and more screams of different voices. The three soldiers on stakeout leaped out of their seats, pulling their guns simultaneously out from their hiding spots.

"Ed! Al!" Hawkeye called, followed by Havoc and Breda when they ran outside. There was a large crowd of people, most of them in panic-y fits, some crouched down, as though they were looking at something. Hawkeye burst through the crowd of people to see Alphonse lying on his side, small pools of blood around him. Blood seeped out of his mouth, but Riza could see the small rise and fall of his chest. "Alphonse... Al." she said, shaking him slightly.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled, eyes still closed. "Where's brother?" he asked.

"I don't know. Havoc, Breda! Go find Ed!" Riza barked at the two lieutenants, who nodded in response. "Al, tell me what happened." she said to the bleeding boy on the ground. He looked shaken and scared, but his eyes finally opened to reveal frightened gold eyes. He may be a strong boy, but his fear seemed more like a spooked horse, or someone who has just seen a ghost.

"I was waiting out here while brother had gone in back to watch the back entrance. I heard something coming from that trash can." he said shakily. Riza followed his gaze to where two metallic trash bins stood unmoving. "I went to check it out thinking something may have been trapped in there, like an animal. Then I felt multiple bullets through my back." Riza's eyes widened as he spoke, realizing she hadn't heard any gun shots coming from outside. "Nothing hit me in any vital areas, but I think I lost a lot of blood and fainted." he told Riza, looking more and more dizzy by the second.

"Thank you Al. Rest until we can get an ambulance here." instructed Colonel Hawkeye in a gentle voice.

An ambulance pulled up the street and was about to take a once again unconscious Alphonse to the hospital when Edward Elric yelled "Al!" as he ran up to the group surrounding his brother. "W-What happened?" he asked nervously with wide eyes.

"He was attacked." Hawkeye said, feeling extremely stressed out. This wasn't going to plan at all. They didn't even catch the attacker, or see him. Maybe he had realized Al was watching out for him and the soon-to-be-missing person was inside, waiting for his cloaked kidnapper. Or maybe he was in this crowd, feigning worry over an attacked boy, and noticing it wouldn't happen tonight. There was no way of knowing, for now.

"Damnit!" Edward growled, obvious worry plastering his face. "How did I not hear this going on?" Ed said. _So he hadn't heard it either,_ Riza thought. Neither had anyone else, she assumed. She was sure she would have heard a bullet, so perhaps it wasn't a bullet that had pierced his back multiple times, to fast for him to transmute. So what was it?

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><p>Riza drove Edward to the hospital to see how Al was doing, followed by Havoc and Breda. They stepped into the florescent-lit building and Edward walked up to the secretary to ask for his brother's room. He wasn't ready to be seen quite yet is what she told them, so they waited in the visitors room. "I'm going to call the Brigadier General." Ed nodded and Riza stepped out of the room to call Mustang.<p>

"Hello?" she heard from the other line.

"Sir, I'm afraid the stakeout didn't end well." she gulped, then said, "Alphonse has been injured. Nothing fatal, but we are in the hospital." she sighed and put her hand on her forehead, knowing his reaction wouldn't be pleasant.

"What the hell?" Riza winced away from the phone as he shouted. "How did this happen, Colonel?" he half-yelled, half-growled. Colonel Hawkeye knew him well.

"I'm not sure, sir." she said calmly, despite her worry for Al and the fact she was being yelled at.

"I'll be there soon." Roy said morosely, and he hung up the phone. Riza let out another sigh and went to sit with Edward.

"It's okay, Ed." she said kindly. For some reason she was able to talk with such kindness that always seemed odd to heard coming from her.

"We should have stayed together." Edward said with a fallen face.

"You can't use alchemy, and Al can. He doesn't always need his big brother there for him. If he couldn't take this person down himself, maybe you couldn't either. It's better only one of you had to go through this." Riza said, attempting to comfort Edward. He had grown so much yet parts of him still didn't understand the imperfections of the world, even after what they had gone through.

"I guess so. Thanks, Colonel." he let out a small bit a laughter, trying to lighten the mood. "It's weird saying Colonel without meaning Mustang. He would've said something like 'You're a fool Ed. Stop blaming yourself and get your act together. You're acting like a child.'" Edward sighed. "I guess he would be right."

Riza just nodded."Sometimes he can be blunt, but he's just trying to help." she admitted.

The two were interrupted by a nurse, who walked in and said "Visitors for Alphonse Elric?" Ed stood up slowly and nodded.

"I'll be waiting for the Brigadier General here. You go." Riza Hawkeye said. Edward smiled grimly and followed the nurse. Riza then left the visitors room to wait for Mustang, smiling grimly as she did so.

**Thanks for reading! Reviews/Critiques loved.**


	5. Chapter 5

**New chapter, please read and review!  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of it's characters.**

"Look, you two, we're here!" Winry said, her face up to the train window as she smiled with excitement. Ed and Al exchanged sorrowful smiles themselves, their minds running through good and bad memories of their adventures.

"Ed, who did you call to pick us up?" Al asked curiously when he realized he had yet to ask.

"I tried to call Lieuten- I mean, Colonel Hawkeye, but she wasn't there. So I asked Armstrong." Ed said, laughing as Al's face fell.

"You asked Armstrong?" Al moaned dreadfully.

"Hey, he's the only one that would want to come out here to pick us up considering we don't have a car." Ed reasoned followed by an admitting nod from Al. "Besides, the Major is a good guy," he paused, putting a hand to his face, "even though he's extremely annoying." he was almost starting to regret his choice, but even then he would probably be the only person not busy st the time, and they would have been trapped.

The three stepped off the train and into a bustle of busy people in the station of Central. All three friend's looked around until Winry spotted what they were searching for. "Major!" she cried, waving for him to notice them.

"Winry? And the Elric brothers!" Armstrong cried as he put a hand to his forehead in a salute-like fashion to make sure it was really them as they ran towards him. When they were standing in front him, they were welcomed by a tight, muscled-filled, embrace.

"Can't... breath... Major..." Ed croaked from within the hug and Mustang placed them on the ground.

"Oh, you three have grown out of your youth and into adulthood! How I've missed the three of you!" Major Armstrong then bursted out sobbing happy tears. It was apparent he would never change.

"You too, Major!" Al said, a bright smile on his face. At first, the idea of Armstrong being the one to pick them up was a dreadful thought, considering his high emotions to everything and his general habit of being annoying, but now Alphonse accepted his happy attitude, lifting the nostalgic mood to a happier one.

* * *

><p>Armstrong then drove the three to the Military hotel, where Ed and Al shared a room and Winry got the one next to it. She then went visit Gracia and Elicia while the brothers wanted to visit Mustang. They got to the door and Al knocked lightly.<p>

"Come in." said a gruff voice from inside.

"Hey, Brigadier General Jackass. Hm, that has a good ring to it – better than Colonel Shit." Ed said, although unlike the past times he had called Mustang vulgar names, he didn't mean them, and wasn't angry. Old habits just died hard, it seemed.

"If it's isn't Fullmetal and Al." Roy said, looking a little shocked to see the two boys.

"Not Fullmetal anymore, Mustang." Ed said informatively. Roy just grinned and nodded, but didn't say anything. Everyone knew Ed could no longer preform alchemy since he got his brother out of the suit of armor he had his soul in. This was knowledge difficult to comprehend, even to Mustang when he signed Ed's papers saying he was no longer in the military.

"Oh, Ed and Alphonse Elric. Nice to see you boys, it's been a while." Riza Hawkeye said as she walked into the office with two coffees in her hands. She handed one to Mustang, who accepted gratefully.

"Colonel Hawkeye, nice to see you too!" Al said happily. Riza may be strict but the brothers had seen her in her most emotional times, making her seem a little more human than a stoic body guard. Al remembered the time Colonel Hawkeye had thought Roy was dead, and he was just glad the two were still together considering they made a great team... and Riza was the only one who could control the Brigadier General.

"Colonel, I thought I sent you home." Roy said, a little puzzled.

"The Fuhrer asked me to give you these papers to sign before I leave." Riza said, holding out a couple of papers which Roy took.

"Great, more paperwork. By the way, how is your grandfather?" he said. He received a puzzled look for Ed and Al both for a moment. "You boys never knew? Fuhrer Grumman is Riza's grandfather." he said in a matter-of-fact tone. The brothers looked a little surprised for a moment, but the knowledge didn't really change much, aside from the fact it was impossible to see the two related with such different personalities.

"He's good." Hawkeye said, then she saluted, "I'll be leaving again, sir. Thank you." Roy nodded and Riza smiled at the brothers. "Maybe I will see you again soon." she said and left after the two nodded in agreement.

"She still staying by your side?" Ed asked when she was gone. There were so very few occasions he had seen either one of them without the other close by.

"My best subordinate." he said, not taking his eyes off the door.

"Hey, Brigadier General, where is everyone?" Al asked, noticing the room was devoid of all Roy's subordinates.

"No one's told you guys? There have been large amounts of disappearances lately, both soldiers and civilians." Roy Mustang groaned and laid his chin on the desk. "And more missing by the minute." he muttered.

Edward smiled at the General. "The big ranks getting to you, old man?" he said mockingly. Without letting Roy answer in protest, Ed asked, "Any way me and Al can help?"

Roy paused for a moment, "Maybe, but I can't think of anything right now. Everyone's going on stakeout tomorrow at a bar where most people were last seen before disappearing. I'd invite you two, but you're not over 21." Roy said and Ed gave him a disappointed look in response. While having a little break from all the adventures he had been on were nice, a part of Ed yearned to go back into action. "Unless," Roy started, lifting his head up from his desk. He had a look of slight hope on his face. "you two want stay at the two entrances. Apparently the person the missing people are always with usually wears a black cloak." Roy muttered something unintelligible about civilians not noticing weird things around them. Then he continued, "You two could try and catch them as they leave so there isn't to much commotion inside the actual bar. And you could tell my team when they enter, if you see them."

Al nodded excitedly at the idea. Ed guess he was happy since he never got to do anything "fun" in his own body, and now he could. Besides, Al could still use alchemy when Edward couldn't and it could be very useful.

"Good. I wont be accompanying you for this mission, so it will just be you two, Hawkeye, Havoc, and Breda. Meet them there at about five. It's Joey's Drinks." Roy informed the two.

"You know, I bet we could pass for 21, right Al?" Ed said slyly with a grin.

"No." Roy growled, putting a hand to his forehead. "Now go, I have work to do."

"Sure you do, Mustang." Ed turned and waved a hand at Mustang, making the Brigadier General chuckle a little. Al waved as well and the two walked out of the office.

* * *

><p>"Whaaat? Why?" Winry pouted when the brothers denied her.<p>

"Winry, please." Al pleased, "We don't know what will happen. Besides, we're probably just going to sit there for a while anyways, and even then there's a chance nothing with happen."

"Come on! Ed... please?" Winry looked to Ed with pleading eyes which Ed had to admit made it hard to say no. Nevertheless, he couldn't let her be put in danger like that. He shook his head and Winry pouted once again. "Oh fine! You two are so stubborn sometimes!"

"Whatever. We still have the whole day tomorrow to hang out." Ed said, and then let out an exhausted yawn. "I'm going to bed." he announced.

"Me too. 'Night Winry." Al said as he got up from the hotel couch.

"Good night." Winry said, and she walked out of the room to go to her own bed. All three friends wondered what tomorrow would bring them - a new day, a new adventure.

**Thanks for reading! By the way, next chapter is in Riza's perspective, since Roy wont be there and I want it to be at the stakeout.  
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	6. Chapter 6

** I know, I know. Roy is a little OOC. Sorry. If it's too bad, tell me so I can fix it up! Read and review would be very nice, but my goal is for you to enjoy, so it's not necessary!**

**Romance [sorry if I fail. And by the way, there is a lot of royai hinting. Hope you don't mind. Couldn't resist!] Woot!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist... but I bet you knew that.**

Riza walked into the office and sat at her desk after going to pick up more paperwork for the team to work on, but Roy noticed the woman had something on her mind and he hoped to find out when he realized she was heading to his desk.

"Do you need something, Colonel Hawkeye?" he asked curiously, yet professionally.

"I would like to request the rest of the day off, sir." she asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice. Roy was now even more curious as to why the Colonel would want the day off. He couldn't recall any situations that would require her to leave, especially since she usually booked appointments after work hours or on her days off. That's how she was. Unless she had some sort of social life he wasn't aware of, but this seemed unlikely and the Brigadier General smiled to himself reassuringly knowing this wouldn't be the case.

"May I ask why?" he asked simply.

"I have a date." Roy's fears were confirmed. She did, in fact have a life outside of the military. The room went silent as the four subordinates who had been listening could no longer pretend they were working and listened into the conversation.

"Oh." said Roy simply. "I suppose you may leave if you have your work done." the last bit was completely unnecessary, considering Hawkeye would have never asked if it wasn't finished.

Riza just nodded. "Thank you, sir." she gave him a sweet smile, the smile which never failed to shock Roy. She then left after picking up a stack of papers from each desk of the subordinates from their finished piles.

"Mother hen has a date." whistled Havoc after a minute of silence.

"Mother hen?" Fuery asked curiously at this new nickname.

Havoc nodded. "Well, she watches over us to make sure we do nothing wrong... scolds us when we do. Keeps us on our toes, but you never _do_ expect your mother to date. Then she brings home a new dad." he finished with a sigh, then a mischievous glance at Mustang. "I guess Mustang is daddy material." he said wistfully and mockingly.

"Havoc!" Roy growled, clenching his fists in frustration. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you forgetting I'm the Brigadier General here?"

Havoc dropped his cigarette, which he wasn't supposed to have in the office. "Right, boss. I Forgot about that."

"I wonder who he is." Mustang said absentmindedly, making Havoc roll his eyes.

"I'm sure it wont last, Brigadier General." Breda said as he picked up his pen and started filling out sheets of papers, already bored with the conversation.

Havoc, however, was still going strong. "I'm sure he's handsome. And serious, completely unlike you, Mustang." it had become clear he was only egging on Roy, and it worked.

"Havoc, if you don't get back to work now, I'll throw your ass out." he barked, even though his Lieutenant had clearly been right. Roy put a hand to his face and moaned in frustration, but he knew he couldn't just sit there. She would be mad to find he hadn't completed his work, and that's the last thing he wanted.

* * *

><p>"Riza!" the happy voice of Rebecca Catalina called out from a table at an outdoor restaurant. "You got out early?" she said in a surprised voice.<p>

"I couldn't stand you up, could I?" Riza Hawkeye said with a smile to her old friend.

"I would be very sad if you had." Rebecca said in a fake sad voice. "So how _did_ you get out?" she blurted out with curiosity.

"I asked." Hawkeye said simply, making her friend moan with boredom at her uneventful story. Riza gave a small laugh and asked, "Why? Did you expect it to be difficult?"

"I expected Mustang to not let you go." she said with a smirk. "Come on, what was his face like when you asked?"

Rebecca was always going on about how Riza and Mustang had a secret relationship, despite Hawkeye's protests. They were commanding officer and subordinate, nothing less, and certainly nothing more, this Riza was certain of. "He looked surprised, I guess." she said, hoping she wouldn't give to much to Riza to hint towards anything untrue.

"That's it? Surprised? Boring." Rebecca said to Riza's amusement. "He should have been wallowing in self pity at the thought of you leaving him!"

Riza sighed and decided to change the topic. "How is your life going, Miss Catalina? Will you be staying in central for a while?" she asked.

"Yep! And guess what? I'll be staying in your apartment!" Rebecca said happily with a wink.

"Oh really now? I guess that's fine." Riza said. She knew Rebecca wouldn't ask to stay over, and would instead have just gone ahead and done it anyway. It was certainly nothing to be shocked about.

"Yay!" Rebecca said as she got up and hugged her old military buddy. Riza smiled, surprisingly glad she would have more company than Hayate. "Well, sorry for making you leave work, Riza. I actually have to go to work myself!" she said with a laugh. "Unlike you, I have no more sick days to take up!" she said as she put on her jacket and lifted her purse from the table.

"Okay. I guess I'll go take Hayate for a walk." Hawkeye said with a smile. "I'm sure I'll be home when you get to my apartment, but here is a spare key anyway." she said as she handed Rebecca a silver key, which she took gratefully. The two then departed with a friendly hug.

* * *

><p>Riza noticed a large crowd about a mile in front of her. As she neared it, she noticed it was actually a very large crowd surrounding an alleyway entrance. "What's going on?" she asked loudly. Luckily, she was still wearing her uniform, gaining the trust of the surrounding people. They all looked scared and a little freaked out. There was man in uniform on the ground in front of the alley which no one had approached. Riza ran up to the man, earning gasps from the crowd. "Sir? Sir, are you okay?" he wasn't moving, or breathing... it had been too late. "Why has no one helped him?" Riza growled loudly with anger to the people.<p>

"The killer... he is in that alley. We didn't want to be the next victim." said a tall chestnut-haired man. Riza looked at him for a moment. He was calm and collected, despite the sight in front of him.

"Would you mind explaining what happened and why there are no other officers here?" Riza said accusingly.

The man shook his head. "I have no idea why there aren't any other officers here, I called the military. This man had already been on the street when the little girl was taken." he paused a moment and looked into the alley. "We heard a girl screaming and most of us came here to help her, but she was gone by the time we came. Then this soldier came over and was about to go into the alley." he paused again and gulped. "He was murdered right before the entrance with a knife thrown into his back. It sounded like an instant death."

"Okay, thank you sir." Riza said, and the man nodded. "Please clear out-," she was interrupted by a high pitched whistle.

"Sorry for ruining your little party, but I would like to propose a trade." a sly voice said from inside the alley. It was dark and impossible to see the inside. "This little girl, for the woman." it said.

"Who are you? What are you doing with the girl? What woman?" Riza growled with multiple questions, taking out her two guns defensively for herself and the people around her.

"Why you, my dear. And my identity does not matter for now. I have her right here and if you promise to come here, I will give her back." the voice said. For some reason Riza knew the enemy was telling the truth. She decided she would do as he said.

"Send her out first and I will come. You have my word." Riza said. She handed one of her guns to the chestnut-haired man and he looked a little surprised, but accepted the responsibility.

"Fine. Make sure you come." the voice said suspiciously, almost like a threat. A young girl ran out from the darkness sobbing. She landed on Hawkeye's legs and held on tightly.

"Elicia!" Riza said in a shocked voice. She knelt down and hugged the crying child. "It's okay. It's okay. You're safe. Now go to those people who will take you to your mom, Gracia Hughes." she said the name of her mother loudly so someone would return her to her home. "I have to go, sweetie." Riza had met Elicia before, considering she was Maes Hughes' daughter, making the girl reluctant to let go, but eventually obey,

Riza nodded to the crowd, and their faces all showed worry and fear. "Leave. Immediately." she ordered the people. A woman took Elicia's hand, and they dispersed. Riza looked into the pitch bla k alley and walked up to the entrance, passing the dead solider she couldn't save. It was impossible to see, which didn't seem to make much sense since it was still the afternoon.

"Very nice, Colonel." the voice said. "How devoted you are to your word."

"What do you want with me?" Riza asked as she clicked the safety off her gun.

The voice ignored her question and said, "I bet you're are very loyal to your commanding officer."

Before Riza could respond, she was overcome by darkness.

**Oh, cliffhanger, sort of. I'm skipping the Ed chapter because I hadn't meant to end it like this. I wanted it to be longer but if I had continued it would have been too long. Sorry for those who prefer Ed chapters! **


	7. Chapter 7

** Another disappointing chapter, I know. I just wanted to close up that event with Roy. Ed's next, and please read and review! If there is anything you want to see more in my writing or whatever, then don't hesitate to tell me! I treasure every review/critique! **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

Brigadier General Roy Mustang's phone rang through the office, startling the soldier from his sleep. He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Roy! Have you seen Riza lately?" Lieutenant Catalina said over the phone.

"Yeah, a couple hours ago. She left earlier for a... date." he said, yawning at the end of his sentence to cover how much he disliked saying 'date' when referring to Hawkeye. He was glad he had sent the rest of his soldiers home earlier with the Colonel, or they would have bugged him about sleeping on the job.

"The date was with me. I'll be in Central for a couple days and I needed a key to her apartment. She was going to go home and take Hayate for a walk while I was working. I went to her apartment and she wasn't there, but Hayate was." Rebecca explained worriedly.

"Wait, the date was with you?" Roy asked. Then he shook his head. "Nevermind that. Maybe she just went to dinner or something." he reassured. Hawkeye could surely take care of herself.

"Riza doesn't go to dinner. And if she had, she would have brought me! Come on, Roy. You sure you haven't seen her?" Rebecca sounded very serious , making Mustang fear something was wrong as she suspected.

"Positive. Where could she have gone?" he said. Suddenly the phone beeped, telling Roy there was another call. "I have to go. Call me if you find anything, or if she's fine." he said. Then put the phone back on the receiver and lifted it again to pick up the other line. "Brigadier General Roy Mustang here." he said formally, like he should have before.

"Roy?" Grumman questioned.

"Fuhrer Grumman? Something wrong?" Roy asked, surprised the Fuhrer would be calling him so late.

"One could say that. Someone saw someone with the exact appearance of my granddaughter in a bit of trouble. Could you come down to my office?" Roy froze at his words. Rebecca had truly been on to something, and now his only goal was to find out what kind of trouble Riza was in, and how he could get her out of it.

* * *

><p>Roy knocked on the door of the Fuhrer's office and walked in immediately after. Inside was just Grumman, not surrounded by his usual guards, and a tall man.<p>

"Ah, Roy. Come, sit down." said the Fuhrer. "This is Brad Tenant. Brad, could you tell the Brigadier General what happened this evening?" while the order seemed to be a question, it was really an order. The chestnut-haired man nodded.

Brad gave a small summary of what he had told Riza Hawkeye, about a girl going missing and a solider being killed. "Then this blond woman in a military uniform came over and started barking instructions and asking questions." _Sounds like Riza already, _thought Mustang dreadfully. "Then this voice came from the alley asking to exchange the girl for her. The woman agreed and a girl ran out. I think her name was Elicia." Brad paused when he saw Roy's face twist in surprise and anxiety. Whoever this voice was, they must have a lot of insiders. "The two hugged and the woman told the girl to go home, and so an older women took her. Anyway, the blond soldier told us to leave, which we did, and then entered the alley. I didn't hear any screams after, but I stuck around anyway. She never came out, so I called the military and was instructed here after I gave her description."

"Could you tell me what you told them?" Roy asked seriously.

"She was average height for her age, I presume. Her hair was blond and up in the back, and she had brown eyes." Brad reported.

Roy Mustang moaned with frustration and worry. "Damnit! Sounds just like her." he growled to himself. "Could you take me to the alley where she was lost?"

"Come now, Mustang." said Grumman. It was obvious he was worried about his granddaughter, but he was good at hiding it so only Roy would realize it. Roy supposed this was a good thing with him being Fuhrer, he has to keep cool on the job. "She would be long gone by now. We will wait."

Roy remembered Edward Elric, and how he had been obviously upset that they were just waiting for something to happen... until someone else got hurt. Roy hadn't thought about real consequences, about one of his own being the victim, especially Colonel Hawkeye. Roy no longer wanted to just wait for something to happen. "Sir, with all do respect, I would like to investigate this somehow." Grumman lifted an eyebrow.

"You are already on a case. You work on that." the Fuhrer said, to Roy's dismay. "Now you are dismissed. Thank you Mr. Tenant for telling us."

"Anything to help." Brad said, nodding his head in respect. "Thanks for listening Mr. Fuhrer, sir."

Grumman nodded as well. "Brigadier General, could you please escort our guest out?" he asked, turning to Mustang.

Mustang accepted the order and left the office, the chestnut-haired man following. "Thank you for warning the military about my subordinate." he said as he walked down the hallway.

"My pleasure." he said. "She must mean a lot to you for you to care so much." he continued with a glance at Roy, who just continued to walk.

"She has had my back for a long time. Helped me through a lot."

"Right. Well, thank you for showing me the way out." said Brad when they reached the Central Headquarters entrance. "Maybe I will see you again one day." he said, and left the building. Roy let out a sigh and turned to go back to his office.

* * *

><p>"Rebecca?"<p>

"Roy! Whats the deal?" said a hyper voice from the other line. Her voice was enough to make Roy tired, but nevertheless he explained to her what he was told. A moment of silence followed, then, "Riza wouldn't get kidnapped." said a disbelieving soldier. Roy knew she was right, his strong subordinate would not be taken out in combat so easily. He wouldn't be surprised if she was stronger than himself.

"Alchemy?" Roy asked, mostly to himself. He then wondered if he should tell Ms. Catalina about the previous events and the stakeout. He decided he would word it vaguely, "Other events tell us there is an alchemist around who isn't a fan of the government." he said.

"Riza may be able to beat anybody using a gun, but I don't know much about alchemy..." said Rebecca, defeated. Her voiced showed obvious worry for her best friend, an Roy wished he could help.

"We'll find her. She can take care of herself, whether or not the enemy is an alchemist." Mustang finalized. "Take care of her dog for her, and I'll handle everything."

"Sure, Brigadier General." Rebecca said, and she hung up the phone. Both friends would be thinking about it through the night, Roy was certain.

_"You are already on a case. You work on that." _Roy recalled Grumman saying. He couldn't help but smile at the Fuhrers hint. He would never let just anybody handle this situation, especially where his granddaughter is concerned. Grumman had an idea, and Roy Mustang had a feeling he was right.

**Thanks for reading! Hope it wasn't terrible. And sorry if phones didn't beep when someone else called back in the time of Fullmetal Alchemist. I didn't know how else to do it... hehe.  
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	8. Chapter 8

**Here you go! By the way, Falman is in the North. Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

Edward Elric had been listening to the phone for quite some time and when the voice on the other end finally finished speaking, he said,"Thanks for telling me. I will come by tonight" then hung up. He turned to Winry who was sitting on the couch eating a piece of pizza. Ed walked to the couch and sat down with a sigh.

"Who was it?" Winry asked through a mouthful of food. She wiped her lips with a napkin and Ed guessed she realized he had something serious to say because she sat back with a serious face on.

"Do you remember the woman always with Mustang, Riza Hawkeye?" Edward asked Winry.

"Of course, the blond woman with earing. We've met quite a few times... why?" Ed could see the slight fear on Winry's face when she spoke. He remembered when she mentioned getting earrings because of Colonel Hawkeye, which was a long time ago. Since the first meeting the two were friendly whenever they met.

"She's..." Ed struggled to find the right word to describe what had happened to Ms. Hawkeye. Kidnapped? No, that was something to really worry about, even though it appeared to be the case. "missing." he finished.

"Missing? Are you sure?" Winry asked with surprise and worry. Edward just nodded and sighed once again. It was so strange to him to think of such a woman as Riza Hawkeye being most likely kidnapped. She was strong and handy with a gun, which she always carried with her.

"Yes, and Winry, I think-"

"I know what you're going to say." interrupted Winry. "You want me to go back to Resembol, don't you?" she asked, even though Ed was sure she already knew the answer.

"Just for a little while, I promise. I just need you to be safe." he looked down, hoping this would go over easy. What Ed didn't expect was for Winry to lean over and give the teen a kiss on the cheek, which surprisingly did.

"I get it, Ed." she whispered to him, and stood up. "I'm going to go to my room now. I'll leave in the morning. Thanks." she said with a sad smile. It was obvious she didn't want to leave. After all, they had just arrived in Central and Ed had just arrived from the west, but after all, he was showing how much he cared for her. "I think I will return to Rush Valley." she said, a little happier. "I'll see you in the morning!" she was trying so hard to lift their spirits, and Ed appreciated it. He nodded and she left without another word.

* * *

><p>Time ticked by and Ed decided it was time to see Roy Mustang to talk about the situation, even though there wasn't much to talk about it. While he was walking down the hallway he noticed Alphonse at the hotel phones, just hanging up. "Hey Al, who were talking to?" Ed asked.<p>

"Oh, brother!" exclaimed Al in surprise. "I was talking to May." he responded.

"I see. Why didn't she come again?" Ed asked, realizing she must still be in Resembol with Granny.

"Central kind of scares her. Isn't that cute?" Al grinned then blushed, realizing what he said. "And she gets along well with Granny, so she said she didn't mind staying there, even though I told her I wasn't sure how long I would be gone." he continued to explain, still embarrassed.

Ed smiled at his discomfort, but just said, "Well it's a good thing, I guess."

"Huh? Why?" Al said in confusion. Edward then recalled his brother didn't know what had happened.

"I'm going to Mustang's, so come with me. I can explain on the way." he told Al, who nodded.

* * *

><p>"We're coming in." said Edward as he stepped into the office of Roy Mustang. Sitting in front of his desk at their own was Roy's subordinates, two seats missing a member, and only one whose whereabouts were known. The expressions of the team were all different than one an other, but all showed some form of distress. Fuery was trying hard not to act frantic. Riza seemed harsh, but it was possible she would have a soft spot for a kid like Fuery. Havoc looked angry, but tried not to show it, and Breda's face showed similar emotion with more worry. The Brigadier General, on the other hand, seemed more a mix. But he was a professional man and was the most successful at hiding such feeling.<p>

"Anyone ever tell you boys to knock?" Roy said, not looking up from a pile of paperwork which he was diligently working on. That was one of the first symptoms of a problem, he was doing work without being told to.

"I always do." sighed Alphonse Elric at the comment, receiving a scowl from Edward.

"You guy's aren't taking this easy, huh?" Ed said as he walked up to Roy's desk. "What are you going to do about it?" he asked.

"Fuhrer Grumman told me not to peruse it, and I asked you here to tell you not to either." Roy said, and Ed could see he was reluctant with the words he was saying. Ed could understand his worry, the two were partners such a long time, and must have cared for each other.

"I'll never understand why you would do this to yourself." said Edward sorrowfully.

"You know, Edward." started Roy. "I don't know how either. But I do know Colonel Hawkeye would want me to follow our current goal... catching the kidnapper." he paused and glanced at his team mates, who had all looked up and were listening to the conversation. "After all, the two cases might intertwine." he finished, folding his hands, showing he was thinking.

Havoc grunted from behind the two talking. "So that's why he's so calm." he said with a slight smile, finally understanding his superior officer's orders. "You could barely keep your cool when she went on a 'date.'" he snickered, and Roy just glared at his Lieutenant.

"So why would they take her?" asked Fuery with worry. "For information, or as a hostage?" he asked openly, even though no one had the answer, as much as they wished they had.

"They picked the wrong girl for information." said Breda. "You wouldn't be able to get anything from her"

Edward gulped, then said, "Unless they used... torture."

Roy stiffened at the comment Edward made. "These people are extremely intelligent, or so it appears. Wouldn't they choose someone a little easier to get information from?" he said, and Ed noticed it was so he could reassure himself. "Although being the Fuhrer's granddaughter could get you to make a good hostage."

"Actually, sir, I was thinking she would be your hostage." Fuery said quietly as he played nervously with his headphones on his head. No one responded, especially since it made horrifying sense. It had happened before, and could easily happen again.

"If she is a hostage, we will hear from the kidnappers soon enough to hear what they want in return for my subordinate. Until then, we look for our other kidnappers under Grumman's orders. Understood?" said Brigadier General Mustang as he stood up from his desk. "Now you're all dismissed, it's late." he finished tiredly. The team nodded and stood up as well, packing their things to leave.

Ed noticed that despite the words of Roy, he still looked stressed and worried. "The Fuhrer didn't tell us not to look into it, Brigadier General." he said respectfully.

Roy just looked up at him. "No, I guess not, although I'm advising you not to." he said with a smile. "Good night boys. Don't do anything stupid." the man said as he walked out of the office, trailing his team.

"Now to figure out how to help." said Alphonse, realizing neither of them had no idea what to do next.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know, boring boring. Unless you like Edwin. I'm so sneaky... haha, just kidding. I'm working on about 3-4 fanfictions at once, and only two are published. By the way, this whole time I listened to "I'm not Your Boyfriend Baby" by 3Oh!3. I hope this didn't affect my writing. And crap, I just realized I have no idea what to do for next chapter. I might have to get into the second part, but it feels like too soon... damnit!<br>**


	9. Chapter 9

** This is going to be a lot authors note, just kind of an update. Sorry! **

** Writers block? No, just stupidity. I haven't planned out this story very well, so I would like you to know I have no idea what I'm doing... for now. You wont see a chapter for a while because I've decided to start planning and writing out all my ideas. Luckily I do have a lot of plans for the future of the story, and after it's planned I will be coming out with a lot of chapters at a decent pace. You should know that I went back and edited my chapters a bit, so the writing is better. There are also things added here and there, but they wont really affect the story much, although there is a little foreshadowing. **

** To complete my long note, I'd like to give a shout-out to owl7498, FullmetalFan16, and Harryswoman! Thanks for the reviews and support. **

"You wont get away with this!" said a voice she had recognized, but couldn't figure out the name that accompanied it. Riza couldn't see her either considering the darkness surrounding the two. "Don't you dare do anything to hurt the young master!" the voice growled, becoming more and more familiar, especially with her choice of words. Everything she said was in vain considering the guards had already left to wherever they went when they weren't watching Riza, and now this girl as well.

"Hello?" Hawkeye said, hoping this woman would respond. She may even know where the two were, unlike Riza who was completely clueless. All she could recall was a voice speaking to her and then the feeling of fainting. She had awoken in a moving vehicle before and seemed to travel a long way before stopping. She fainted again and woke up in the dark dungeon-like room.

"There is someone else here?" the voice questioned. "You sound familiar." she said, confirming what Riza had thought. She certainly knew this person.

Riza nodded, then felt silly because she obviously couldn't see her. "Do you know where we are?" she asked, doubting this woman knew.

"No." the voice responded with a sigh, then Riza heard the sound of footsteps approaching her. _How does she know where I am? _thought Riza, knowing they were to far away to hear the exact area her voice was coming from. That's when she realized who this was...

Roy Mustang sighed, no longer able to focus on his work which was taking hours to get done. It had been a couple days since the disappearance of Riza Hawkeye, and not knowing whether or not she was okay was starting to kill him. It was night and Roy had already sent his subordinates home, who were almost as stressed out as himself.

There was knock on the office door and Roy jumped in surprise. "Come in," he said, expecting the Elric brothers to enter for some reason. Instead, it was a young man who looked Xingese. The man entered and approached Mustang, a rolled up paper in his hand.

"Thank you, Brigadier General Mustang." he said with a foreign accent. "I am the ambassador of Xing, Ginwa Tai, and I'm here to question you about an issue of my country." said the man professionally as he handed Mustang the paper.

Roy opened it and skimmed it's contents before asking, "Would you mind explaining the problem?" The Brigadier General was slowly loosing his motivation for work over time, and if someone was here who could help him avoid work, he would take advantage of it.

"There have been quite a few instances where our army has lost members to whereabouts unknown, as well as citizens. Recently there has been a great detriment to the Emperor, Ling Yao. His guard, Ran Fan, has also gone missing." summarized the ambassador. His face looked grave and full of worry, even though he seemed to try hard to have a stoic expression.

Roy chuckled slightly then asked, "I see. May I ask why you have come to me and not our Fuhrer?" The power he was slowly gaining made Roy proud and more assured that he would someday replace Grumman, although he truly was curious as to why he was told this.

"I was told specifically by our Emperor to come to a Colonel Mustang. I was then informed that the person I was searching for had changed ranks and is now a Brigadier General. This brought me to yourself." said Ginwa. He seemed a little surprised that Roy had been amused by his countries problem. Why had Emperor Yao chosen this man to speak of such a matter?

"Are you aware Amestris is having this issue as well?" Roy asked, a sly grin on his face which further confused the surprised Xingese man, who shook his head. "Yes, we are currently trying to deal with the situation," Mustang paused, wondering if he should give the problems of his country and their inability to solve it to another country. He went with his gut and told the man, "We too have lost valuable members of our military, as well as citizens too." He left out the part about his Colonel being abducted as well, even though she seemed to be in the same situation as their Ran Fan.

"I suppose this is a bigger problem than we had anticipated." said Ginwa skeptically. "I had come to ask for Amestris' help," he admitted. This man surely didn't agree with his country's leader, but was faithful enough to carry on his wishes.

"Equivalent exchange." muttered Roy to himself. "I guess we will help you if you help us, but sadly I am not the man running this country," he said with a sigh. "We will need to discuss this with the Fuhrer. I could call him and ask if he is busy now, the sooner the better."

Roy lifted the phone from it's perch and dialed the number of Grumman's office. As usual, he had to say his code to get through. Finally there was an answer on the other line. "Fuhrer Grumman." it said simply.

"Hello Fuhrer. This is Brigadier General Roy Mustang, are you busy?" asked Roy patiently.

"I just got out of a meeting. If it's urgent I suppose I could lend you some of my time." Grumman said with boredom.

"I would say this is important. I will be at your office momentarily, and I'm bringing a friend." Roy said, then waited for a response, even though he knew the Fuhrer would be fine with it.

"Make it quick." Grumman said jokingly, then the two hung up on each other.

After many ID checks as usual, especially for Ginwa, they reached the Fuhrer's office. Two guards stood on either side of him tensely. "Could you excuse us?" Grumman asked in an order-like tone. The guards looked at each other nervously and hesitated, but nodded in fear of a court martial. Once they were gone, Fuhrer Grumman said, "Now, what is it you need to tell me?" he looked towards Ginwa Tai for a moment, then back at Roy for an explanation.

"This is Ginwa Tai, the ambassador of Xing..." the Brigadier General then explained what the man had told him and finished with, "...Ran Fan, the aide of Emperor Ling was also kidnapped." Grumman cocked his eyebrows a moment, then smiled. This left Ginwa confused considering Roy had the same reaction when he told him about Ran Fan.

"I see. Any ideas on how to solve this issue?" Grumman asked Roy, as well at Ginwa. The two looked to each other and frowned.

Roy, taking a deep breath said, "I believe it would be best to collaborate with Xing." Roy said, making Ginwa nod in agreement. Roy suspected he was relieved Xing wasn't the only country with issues, and that Xing would be in Amestris' debt.

"Yes, I agree with you Brigadier General," the Fuhrer stood up a moment, then said, "The desert is quite a vast border between our countries. Ginwa, did your emperor speak you on this matter?" Grumman had an understanding look in his eyes, almost curious as well.

"We didn't discuss this matter in particular, but I believe I have failed to inform you of something." Ginwa paused a moment, then said with a little frustration in his voice, "Emperor Ling Yao is crossing the desert as we speak. I came ahead of his group so I could inform you." Grumman was certainly not expecting such an answer as the one the ambassador gave, and Roy was equally as shocked.

"Why is your emperor coming here?" Roy asked in surprise.

Ginwa looked more and more angry by the minute, and seemed to have trouble keeping in his true thoughts, which he let out by accident. "Emperor Yao became very attached to this country during his visit. While I believe he makes a great Emperor, he has not thought rationally about this. Currently the prince of the Chang family -for reason I do not know- is acting as Prince during his leave.

Grumman thought about this and the three looked at each other in silence. Finally, the Fuhrer said, "Maybe it's for the best that we talk face to face on the issue. I have a proposition for him." he left it at that, not giving the two any more information. "When might your Emperor arrive?" he asked.

"About 2 days." confirmed Ginwa.

"Roy, I would like you to find our guest a place to stay. Then you are to arrange a meeting place, date, and time for the Emperor and I. You will attend this meeting along with a single man of his choice." Grumman half-ordered half-told Roy Mustang, who nodded.

"Yes, sir." he said, saluting as he did so.

"Oh, and one more thing. You are now in charge of more than just this case." Grumman said, making Roy give him a gentle smile in thanks. He was sure Grumman was talking about his Colonel, and was thankful he could do something about it.

**Boring chapter, sorry! How do you people spell Ran Fan? Ran Fan or Lan Fan? The English manga has Lan Fan, so I'm think I should change it to that... Thanks for reading and I hope to finish my planning soon so I can update! **


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